Schengen visa made easy

The city will now have a one-stop shop for visa applicants travelling to six Schengen countries — Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium and Netherlands.

A Schengen visa application centre (SVAC) was opened at Babulnath on Thursday.
“It’s a major step in easing way for Indian applicants in getting visa for Schengen countries,” said Sanjay Bhaduri, chief operating officer, VFS Global Services (P) Ltd.

“Over the last few years, we observed a positive trend in the number of Indians travelling to European destinations. This has led to a requirement for processing large number of visa applications. The SVAC will do the needful,” said Bhaduri. SVAC is the first such centre in Mumbai with one already existing in London.

As per Schengen rules, the applicants must first identify the main destination country to determine which consulate they should approach for the visa.

“If the main destination cannot be determined, the applicant should file visa application at consulate of the Schengen country of first entry. SVAC will facilitate effective visa application processing for any of the six countries from a single location. But the decision to issue visas will remain solely with the respective consulates,” said Jean-Joel Schittecatte, consul-general, consulate-general of Belgium.

The centre will be open from Monday to Friday.